Bring You Back to Love

Chapter 2

Sam drapes his arm across my shoulders and looks out at the water too. I can’t see his face, but I know he’s smiling too. I know everything about this kid, even if we haven’t spoken in a year and a half. And even if it kills me, I’m going to be friends with him, because God knows that it has already been killing me without him.

After a while, I lift my head and look up at him. “I’m sorry… for everything. There’s a list of things, but I’m not gonna go through them. Just know that I am sorry. And that… I missed you, Sam.”

There he goes again, pulling that smile that could make toes curl with giddiness as his pearly whites were showing. “I missed you too, Mal. Too much. And I’m sorry too. Let’s just… put all the… ugly stuff behind us. Ok?”

I nod and return his smile before ruffling his hair. In that moment, I did feel happier; I felt free, but in the back of my mind, I just wanted to lean in and give him the biggest, sloppiest, wettest kiss ever. But I can’t. Not anymore. Because we’re… just friends.

I’m zoned out when Sam stands up and reaches for my hand. “Hello, earth to Mallory? Are you still here?” He asks when I don’t move.

I shake my head and grab his hand, standing up before he leads us out to the edge of the lake and we start to walk after he drops my hand. “So tell me about your smart friends at Vandy.”

I laugh slightly and shrug, bending down to pick up my shoes and carry them as we walk just so I can feel the familiar grass under my toes. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m not as popular as you always have been. I have a nice little group though. There’s Lauren, my roommate, who is my best friend. And her boyfriend, Trey. Then there’s Brooke, Brett, Scott, Caroline, and Maddie.”

“Seems to me like you are pretty popular.” Sam says dryly as he looks up at the moon. I look at him only to see him almost scowling. I almost want to say something about it, but I don’t.

“What about you and your new friends?” I ask, trying to change the subject from me.

He sighs and shoves his hands in his pockets as we walk. “Well Calvin still, obviously, and Jake, Justin, his girlfriend Madison, Sara, Jen, and Logan.”

I nod as he answers, trying not to wince at the sound of another girl’s name. I’m trying to think of something else to say when Sam beats me to the punch, yet again. “It’s weird… without you. I mean, I’ve known you my whole life. I go from seeing you everyday to not seeing you at all… I don’t like it.”

“Yeah, it is weird. I thought I would get used to it, but sometimes I still forget and I wanna call you to see where you are and then I remember and… I feel like an idiot for even thinking it.” My head jerks up quickly when I hear him chuckle. My eyebrow automatically raises as I look at him. “What? I know I’m a loser, but-“

He shakes his head quickly as he looks at me, his eyes sparkling in the moonlight. “No, no, its just… I do the same thing.”

I stop in my tracks and smile before letting out a light laugh and gently punching his arm. “Shut up, you’re just saying that to make me feel better about my sad life.”

He laughs louder now and holds his hands up in defense. “No, seriously! I do. Ask Calvin. He’s been there when I’ve done it.”

I start walking again at an attempt to hide the giant smile from my face that he actually thinks about me all the time like I do him. “Whatever.”

“Don’t whatever me, Mally Bean!” Sam says, still laughing as he follows me along side of the water. 

I glare at him, trying my absolute best to hold back a grin. “I’m 20 years old. You’d think people would drop that nickname by now.”

“You mean you STILL don’t like it?” Sam says sarcastically with a mischievous grin, leaning closer to me. “Mally bean, Mally bean, Mally be-“

As he sing-songs my nickname, I get an idea and simply push his shoulder just enough to push him into the water. All I hear is a splash and I start running back to his truck, desperate to reach the doors to lock myself in before he can get to me.

My hand is on the passenger door handle just as 2 wet arms wrap around my much smaller body. “Now you’re dead, Mally bean!” He says, obviously happy that he caught me. With one foul swoop, he cradles me in his arms as he full on sprints to the dock.

“Sam, no please! I’m sorry! Don’t!” I say as we get closer to the water.

With a wink, Sam leaps into the lake water with me in his arms. I come back up, shivering and wiping my eyes only to find Sam is nowhere to be found. “Sam?.....Sam, where are you?” Nothing, no movement or anything at all around me. “Sam, this isn’t funny!” I look around and still nothing until suddenly he pops up out the water and tackles me.

“You’re such a jerk!” I laugh as I wiggle out of his arms. “I thought you had been sucked under by a monster or something.”

He shakes the water from his hair with a laugh. “Oh I did. But I talked my way out of it with my charm.”

I roll my eyes with a smirk as I shiver again. “J-just sh-shutup.”

I can tell he kind of feels bad now as he walks over to me in the water. “C’mon, let’s go before you get hypothermia on me."

We make it back to his truck and luckily, he still has a few bags of his clothes from where he hasn’t completely unpacked yet in the backseat. He hands me an FGCU sweatshirt with black sweatpants as he grabs some clothes for himself. I give him a weird look and he chuckles. “I’ll go change over there behind that tree if you wanna change behind the truck.”

It’s just a couple minutes later that we’re on our way back home again. I’m getting sleepier by the second, so I’m desperately trying to keep my eyes open until I hear Sam laugh quietly to himself. I look over only to see him smiling to me. “Thanks for coming home and meeting me here tonight and also, giving our friendship another shot. I know you well enough to know you thought about not doing any of those things, but I’m really glad you did.”

I’m wide awake now as he pulls up in front of my house and puts the truck in park. I nod and smile back to him. “Yeah, I did. But I’m glad I did it too.”

“I’ll see ya tomorrow, Mally Bean.” He winks with a laugh as I get out of the truck and shake my head, walking up the stairs and sneaking as quietly as ever into my house.

I’m making my way to the stairs as a voice interrupts me. “With Sam?”

I turn on my heel to see my Dad sitting on the couch watching some old western movie of his with a smirk thick on his face. I only nod and smile shyly before turning to go upstairs but not before I hear him mumble. “Just like old times.”

It hits me when I get in my room and I fall back onto my bed, not even bothering to change out of Sam’s clothes. There’s no way I can make it through this summer just being friends with Sam again. I gave that boy my heart, my whole heart, and I never really got it back. But there’s also no way I can go the entire summer without him when he’s just down the street. All I know is, this is going to be the hardest summer of my life.